2007-03-02

I was watching television today [still haven't got around to reviewing those Day Break episodes for us, have you? -ed] and saw that stupid Alexander Keith's commerical where the spirit of A.K. (apparently alive in a statue) gives a guy dating advice when he asked which beer to buy her. (Doesn't Alexander Keith only make the one brand of beer anyways, the India Pale Ale?)

Anyways, A.K. asks if she has any land or livestock. Which got me to thinking... on or about 1820, when Nova Scotia was a British colony under the general purview of English Common Law, could women own land and/or livestock?

My first instinct was to say no. A further checking of good ol' Wikipedia says otherwise: under coverture, the single lady would be considered a feme sole and had the right to property and the right to engage in contract. If she got married, and became the guy from the commerical's feme covert, her right to property would end. Which means, of course, he would get the livestock and land (condo and cats). Seems a shame really, since I had hopes that the commercial would turn out to be wrong.

(It still might be, though. Legal historians accidentally reading this are welcome to submit to the comments any insights about my analysis).